a blog about perfume

Christian Dior La Collection Christian Dior ~ new fragrances

Christian Dior has launched La Collection Christian Dior, a set of 10 "rare, authentic and elegant fragrances for men and women, created using only carefully selected, exceptional raw materials". Three of the fragrances — Ambre Nuit, Bois d'Argent and Eau Noire — were previously released under the Dior Homme cologne collection (Cologne Blanche, from that same collection, appears to have been discontinued). The 7 new fragrances are:

Cologne Royale ~ "Cologne Royale is an exceptional Cologne, inspired by the Royal Courts of the 18th century, of which Mr. Dior was so fond. “An exercise for a Perfumer, wherein the quality of a fragrance entirely depends on the quality of its ingredients, and its citrus fruits, in particular.” says [perfumer] François Demachy." With notes of bergamot, lemon, neroli, mint and sandalwood.

Leather Oud ~ "Highly powerful, vibrant and deep, Oud Wood is rare and particularly recognizable by the leather scents that it diffuses when burned. Using this unique wood, François Demachy created an intensely masculine fragrance, with strong character in which Leather notes intertwine with those of Gaiac Wood, Cedar and Sandalwood." Additional notes for the woody leather fragrance include cardamom and clove.

Granville ~ "The House where Christian Dior spent his childhood is located in Granville, in the Normandy region. Built overlooking the cliffs, it is surrounded by pine trees and has a view of the sea. Inspired by this site that is so dear to the Creator, François Demachy chose to create a fresh, invigorating and aromatic fragrance. “I not only wanted an aromatic fragrance, as the estate has an abundance of pine trees, but also one that is exceptionally invigorating and extremely fresh...” The notes for the spicy aromatic include pine, thyme, rosemary, lemon, black pepper and sandalwood.

New Look 1947 ~ "February 12, 1947: A major event was held at 30, avenue Montaigne in Paris, where Christian Dior presented his first fashion show. With his flower women and bright colors, the Designer launched a fresh fashion trend. “It's a New Look!” exclaimed Carmel Snow, Editor-in-Chief at Harper's Bazaar, thus christening the Designer’s inimitable style. Today, the New Look has become an explosive, generous, ultra-feminine and floral fragrance." The notes for the spicy floral include tuberose, benzoin, ylang ylang, rose, jasmine, vanilla and iris.

Mitzah ~ "Christian Dior loved and thus surrounded himself with women. When he arrived in Paris, he met the woman who would later become both his muse and advisor: Mitzah Bricard, an extremely sensual woman, with a divinely chic allure and captivating presence. François Demachy has paid tribute to this lady, by creating a fragrance that bears her name: a mysterious, captivating spicy oriental perfume." The notes for the oriental include rose, patchouli, coriander, cinnamon and frankincense.

Milly-la-Forêt ~ "After his fashion shows, Christian Dior loved to get away from high society Parisian life in order to recharge his batteries at his home in Milly-la-Forêt. “Hidden away from the world and surrounded only by my flowers, my canals and my small pond, I can listen to the sound of the Milly bells in peace.” he writes. Wandering through the surrounding woods, François Demachy imagined this fragrance as the embodiment of a romantic walk in the forest, with a fresh, tender and cottony scent. The notes for the musky citrus include orange blossom, jasmine, iris, mandarin, neroli, white musk and sandalwood.

Vétiver ~ "Mr. Dior had a particular sense of elegance and sophistication. Inspired by this and his timelessly chic style, François Demachy has created a powerful, intense and raw Vetiver fragrance. A masculine raw material par excellence, Vetiver makes up more than one third of the fragrance and is combined with Coffee, a round, slightly bitter, roasted note, creating an unusual aromatic blend." The woody aromatic features notes of grapefruit, coffee and vetiver.

The La Collection Christian Dior fragrances were developed by perfumer François Demachy. They are available in 125 ($150) or 250 ($225) ml spray or 450 (330€) splash. (via dior)

They’re a little late to the game. I don’t know the distribution…that is, whether or not they’ll be at Dior counters or only at Dior boutiques. If the latter, would guess they’re going to get less play in the US only because there aren’t that many Dior boutiques here.

I find the whole thing more than a bit odd! As you point out, many were not familiar with the Dior Homme colognes, because Dior gave them such poor distribution and promotion. In my opinion, the original three were probably the best exclusive trio launch in a very long time… and maybe ever! After 3-4 years of letting them languish and become harder to find, they add the very disappointing (to me, anyway), woody-amber-dominated Ambre Nuit, while seemingly discontinuing the three good ones. Now they include the two I’d drop (Bois D’Argent and Ambre Nuit) in the new collection and leave out the beautiful and different Cologne Blanche! (Because of heliotropin restrictions?!) At least my beloved Eau Noire made the cut – although it’s the only scent to get left out of the promotional picture! At least I quite like a few of Demachy’s scents, so I’m trying to hold on to some hope….

It was odd what they did w/ the Cologne Collection, truly. I first smelled them in the New York Dior Homme boutique, where they had them hanging around by the cash register as an afterthought. Perhaps they were given more attention elsewhere: we all forget that North America is no longer the cash prize for most perfume brands.

After reading them all, I became most intrigued by the description of Milly-la-Forêt. i think that may have more to do with the evocation of the atmosphere of peace, tranquility and nature. Hmmm. This has possibilities OR it is seriously time for me to get out of the city. Either way, a change is indicated. I’ll try the smelling first

I can testify Milly-la-Forêt was a lovely place: as a child, I used to spend most of my holidays around Fontainebleau and I was taken to Milly several times. I expect it’s all built up now. That part of France was idyllic.

Samples are definitely in order, but none of them really grabbed me, either. Maybe the vetiver, but even that’s more of a ‘maybe’ than anything else. I’m sure they’re well made and lovely, but not on the top of my must try list.

Daisy,
I think you will be happy with Mitzah and Leather Oud.. although Vetiver and New Look were definitely a few of my favorites from this collection. Now if I can just hurry the plane that is carrying my 450ml bottle of Mitzah….

I should probably say that for the most part—Dior is not my favorite house…only a couple of their offerings have appealled to me, so this new line was sort of a long shot anyhow. But don’t be depressed!! There are so many lovely, perk-you-up florals that you haven’t smelled yet! I sure we can find something that will snap you out of this blue mood! Whatcha like??

Am I being excessively grumpy by wondering why they don’t put their effort and dollars into improving the classic Dior fragrances still readily available to the perfume buying public? Izzat so wrong?? Plus, Mitzah sounds too much like Mitzvah/Matzoh to me …

My small decant of New Look 1947 turned up today. It is extremely lovely and seems very well put together, although not my style to wear. Whilst I am looking forward to decants of Leather Oudh and Mitzah I admit to some unease relating to the slightly derivative style of this collection.

Please let us know how the Leather Oud and Mitzah turns out. As a whole, with the exception of Poison, I think Dior produces some well done fragrances. I like J’adore and I am not a particular fan of friuty florals.

My decant came too and I’m infatuated, it’s a lil’ dear!
I could wear this happily and I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it. I am looking forward to LO and Mitzah now and especially because of Octavian’s raving reviews of them.
He also loved New Look so I’m thrilled he didn’t steer me wrong.
It was based on all of those reviews that I even wanted to try the scents at all although I do love Dior, (old school anyway!)
I put on vtg. Miss Dior last night just to remind myself and yes!
It is a classic and my favorite for so many reasons.

NozKoz NOTHING could ever replace or even stand beside Miss Dior.
Get Behind the lady , all of you! I love her.
But I think New look was lovely and was just as Octavian described, floral, creamy, powdery .
I hope one of them suits you and I want to know which one (if any?) catch your fancy!

Wow. If I were Chanel I’d be flattered and a bit tweaked. I know lots of people have done their own version of the Exclusifs, but Dior seems to have borrowed from the bottles, the kind of scents available, and even the copy!

But the bottle is nearly the same as the Dior Homme cologne collection bottle, which pre-dated the Exclusifs bottle, although of course Chanel was using that square bottle w/ the labels on some of their scents already. I think if you went back far enough though, somebody else was probably doing something similar…really doubt Chanel “owns” the look.

That’s true about the bottle, R. Guess I was also thinking of the way they’ve included a vetiver (like Sycomore), a cologne (OK, everyone does this, and the perfumes based on the locations/houses (like La Pausa, and Rue Chambon) though I suppose everyone does that, too!

Maybe it’s just the PMS talking, or the combination of pharmaceuticals I just ingested, but I’d rather have Dior focus their money on un-reformulating their classics. Or maybe I just have new release fatigue.

Just got some Granville today and think it’s pretty wonderful — would agree with tending toward masculine, as Daisy said, but definitely not Pine-Sol-esque on me, thankfully It’s essentially what I hoped it would be from the description and Octavian’s review at 1000fragrances (aromatic and bracing), so I’m pleased and already thinking I perhaps didn’t get enough of it. Will be trying the Leather Oud as well. Dior is not my favorite house, but I’m glad to have given Granville a go.